Another suspected Israeli strike in Lebanon as war fears intensify
Lebanese and Iraqi politicians denounced Israeli strikes on their territory as a “declaration of war” on Monday as a suspected Israeli aircraft struck another Iran-linked target in Lebanon, marking a new escalation in tensions.
The attack on a Palestinian facility in eastern Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley was the fourth in the space of just a little over a day to hit locations tied to Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The strike came just hours after a threat by Lebanon’s Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement to down any Israeli drone that overflew the country and appeared designed to send the message that Israel won’t be deterred.
Israel has acknowledged only the strike in Syria, carried out late Saturday night by warplanes against an Iran-linked military base southeast of Damascus. The Israeli military said the strike thwarted a plot by Iran’s elite Qods Force to attack Israeli territory using multiple exploding drones. There was no independent confirmation that such a plan existed. [Continue reading…]